DNC chief hits Cantor over Obama and Israel

By MAGGIE HABERMAN

07/23/2012 11:01 PM EDT

There's been a back-and-forth today to table-set Mitt Romney's trip overseas, the highlight of which will be his visit to Israel next weekend, that prompted President Obama's advisers to say he would visit the Jewish state, which he has not been to since he was a candidate, in his second term.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor blasted that as "four years too late," and said it was an example of an unkept promise from the president's history-making campaign in 2008 - a theme Republicans have hit for weeks. The statement was put out by Romney's campaign.

DNC chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz hit back tonight.

“The only candidate in this race playing politics with America's bipartisan support for Israel is Mitt Romney," she said. "He recently pledged to 'do the opposite' of President Obama on Israel. If we take him at his word, that means a Romney Administration would slash security assistance funding, abandon Israel at the UN, de-fund the Iron Dome system protecting Israelis from terrorist rockets, and dismantle the hardest hitting sanctions Iran has ever faced. The American and Israeli people deserve to hear real ideas from Mitt Romney, not just cheap political rhetoric that's completely devoid of facts.

"The bottom line is that President Obama has been a steadfast supporter of the Jewish State -- and numerous Israeli leaders have spoken out publicly to agree,” she said.

This has been a point Democrats have hit all day, that Romney ought to be pressed to give specifics of his foreign policy platforms. He is not likely to weigh in to any great degree on most issues while overseas - he'll save that for his address at the VFW convention in Reno tomorrow.